Operation Lopez
by Don Socrates
Summary: Cain has to recover Operation Lopez, and the only way to do that is to help Shepard in her fight against Saren, so that he can recover what was stolen from him. Content might push into M later on, if so I'll change it.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

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**[A/N] **Please let me know what you thought of Cain and Shane and the rest of the chapter for that matter. If you get that far then thanks for reading the first chapter and don't forget to leave a review!

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Cain looked down at the area in front of him, it was a barren farmland for the most part, a human colony was built here and there wasn't much more to it for this rock. Eden Prime, it was a research facility devoted entirely to agriculture. 'This is bullshit' he thought to himself. Why would anyone think that there was anything suspicious happening on this planet? Shane better give him the double payment for this. He wasn't to expect any resistance whatsoever and here he was fighting off Geth.

He ran through a narrow passage way and quickly took cover by a broken pillar. It gave him a small amount of cover against the unaware Geth patrol that was heading his way. He toyed around with his pistol for a few seconds before a holographic snowflake appeared by the barrel. Cryo rounds would make short work of the machines.

Cain turned out of the cover and sensed his mistake immediately, the Geth reaction times were much higher than he anticipated but he'd gone too far to back away now, he shot one in the lens which caused an impressive internal explosion, the other shot his the second Geth in the chest place, temporarily freezing it but before he could take it out completely a loud shot rang in his ears and the frozen Geth shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

That's a high calibre sniper round, a unique sniper round if he wasn't mistaken. Now who would have access to a Black Widow? A very rich person maybe? Or someone with very extended resources, powerful allies seemed most likely. Cain slowly turned around to see a well-armed squad of three people staring him down, the first had the weapon in question, a fiery haired woman with eyes that could tear your spirits down and read you like a children's book. Cain stopped and just took in the sight, he immediately shunned all thoughts about what kind of body the redhead had underneath that armour. The other two; one male and one female. The male had a standard issue Alliance combat uniform on but the other woman he recognised though he couldn't place it.

"State your name and what you're doing on this planet soldier." The redhead spoke up with an intense authority that Cain could only assume was matched by her passion for battle. If he would ever see her in action that is.

"What makes you think I'm a soldier?" Cain responded coldly. He had his moments but considering that he'd been fighting for his life for the past hour, he wasn't about to just up and trust anyone right now.

"Mainly the way you immobilized and defeated two Geth with a single round each. Other than that? Nothing particular. Alenko, you have anything to add to that?" The woman tilted her head slightly to the man on her right hand side. Everyone's guns had been safely put at ease by this point.

"The stance for one, if he's not military he's highly disciplined none the less." This Alenko guy was studying him, no, analysing him, trying to read what little surface information there was about Cain, the way he stood, the attitude he portrayed, right down to the way he was looking back at them.

"Self-discipline." Cain responded quickly, "But that doesn't make me a soldier. Your turn Red, you surely wouldn't let me walk away without even knowing your name?" Cain pursed his lips with what he had always assumed made him look sexy to an extent, but it really had never worked for him before, but if nothing else it served for entertainment purposes. Her expression softened the tiniest bit, which obviously meant that Cain's technique was working.

"My name is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy." She said proudly. Cain's mind clicked like a tiny clock trying to think of where he'd heard that name before. Then he figured it out and all hell reigned unchecked inside his mind before he came to a suitable conclusion. Of which he had none.

"You're shitting me? That makes things problematic. If it's not too highly classified, do you mind telling me what you're doing on Eden Prime? Because I'd hate to get into a fight with you over a conflict of interest ma'am." Cain's words caught her off guard, where should she begin with answering that? Firstly 'ma'am', such manners she was not expecting, and she blushed slightly at that.

"No, I am not 'shitting you', my credentials are true." Shepard hesitated and shared a look with this Alenko guy before continuing. "All I can really tell you is that the Alliance wants me to explore rumour of an artefact buried here on Eden Prime." She stared at the man to watch his response. He frowned deeply and cursed under his breath.

"Shane. Shane are you there?" He spoke into an earpiece that Shepard had not noticed before, though it may just have been the way that he was standing, always at an angle, perhaps so that he wouldn't be caught by surprise from another Geth patrol.

The earpiece buzzed to life in what confirmed her theory that it was a comm link. Strange, Joker hadn't found any signs of comm traffic in this area when they scanned the planet upon landing.

The woman to Shepard's left whispered to her, as if knowing what she was thinking. I met this guy before, he came here this morning and the only word's we've exchanged were a simple greeting, he then disappeared and this is the first I've seen of him. I'm not sure if he could be trusted though." She spoke softly and quickly, never taking her eyes off the tall man.

"What's up?" The man on the other end of the earpiece asked. It was loud enough the Shepard could make out what they were saying even from here. But if that was to be a problem she would have just asked Joker to intercept the transmission and broadcast it to her comm link as well.

"I've got a Commander Shepard and some of her Alliance pals here, they're investigating rumours about some sort of artefact on the planet, no explanation as to why the Geth are present as of yet but could it all be involved with Operation Lopez?" He asked, not giving any of them a look while he was deep in conversation with whoever this 'Shane' character was.

There was silence but it seemed like this man understood what the response was when it suddenly came to life again, "It's your lucky day Cain, it seems that the good Commander is on a retrieval mission completely unrelated to Operation Lopez and considering the hard-core Geth activity between you and the objective, it wouldn't be unwise to form an allegiance with them. I'm sure the commander will make good use of someone with your skills." The link shut down and nothing more needed to be said.

"Well, as I'm sure you either heard that or had my transmissions hacked and sent straight to your personal comm link, like you Alliance types always do, I'm certain that you heard my partner one way or another, so how about it? His intel is never wrong and whenever he uses the word 'hard-core' it's always a painful day." The man asked Shepard, what was his name? What had his informant called him? 'Cain was it?' She thought to herself, it wasn't a bad idea, Joker had forwarded an intel report of Geth in the area and it seemed that they were right.

"It seems like we have an agreement under the terms that you obey the orders I give." Shepard and Cain seemed to have a moment where they were at an impasse of death glares with locked horns before Cain gave in to those deep green eyes.

"But first, you surely wouldn't walk away without me knowing your name." Shepard quoted with a cheeky smirk on display, this caused the mysterious man to crack a smile and grant her his name. It seemed like something that he would usually keep to himself.

"My name is Cain as I'm sure you heard my partner say." He smiled before walking down the beaten path that held two Geth shells that were now devoid of threat and the machine variant of 'life'.

"Any second name, Cain?" Shepard asked, elongating his name she'd been given. He knew he should have gone with a fake name, because for some reason whenever someone knew his true identity it felt like they had power over him.

"I do, Jane." He responded, his turn to elongate the first name. She looked at him with a puzzled frown. Had she given her first name? No, she hadn't, she'd only given him her title and surname, how did he know her first name was Jane?

"I don't remember giving you my first name." She stopped uneasily, slowly making sure that her weapon was within easy reach should he turn out to be an enemy. He stopped and analysed what she had meant and what she was preparing to do which simply made him laugh, giving the others and equally confused look.

"Calm down, I'm no assassin. I just watch the news every now and then. Akuze; you're the famous survivor, Commander and an icon for many." He smiled as good naturedly as the first one he'd given her but something made her feel uneasy, the fact that she hadn't questioned him anything beyond his name. What was his profession? Why was he here? And just what the hell is Operation Lopez? 'What if he's a Cerberus agent?' She though and quickly backed up.

"If you're with Cerberus you'd better be prepared to fight." She said, and this time when Cain turned around she already had her gun pointed firmly at his head, unwavering in her determination to not be caught unawares by anything. This woman was either extremely paranoid or just had a lot of enemies, which considering she's an Alliance war hero, wouldn't have been a huge surprise to Cain anyway.

"The fuck's a Cerberus?" Cain asked. Wait, isn't that a mythical thirty foot three headed dog guarding the gates of hell? She must meant something else, he thought before ignoring the target she was mentally painting on his face and instead carried on walking. There was a large distance to cover before they got to the target location and the supposed area of Operation Lopez.

"OK, so you're obviously not with Cerberus, just who are you?" Ashley asked. Cain remembered her from earlier that day, she was the leader of the security detail chosen to protect these people from a transaction from another colony, obviously her job description had not mentioned Geth invasion, so within those parameters, she'd done pretty well to survive.

"As I mentioned a minute ago, my name is Cain, my partner's name is Shane, and that's business partner before you ask. We're based on the citadel. We get contacted by many different people. The short answer for what I do is a mercenary contracting, but more often than not we'll be contacted by military organisation. I've done more than a few operations with the Alliance, just ask your superiors to find the file with all the blank ink in it." Cain smirked, he knew how to make things sound overly dramatic when he wanted to.

"So what EXACTLY are you doing here on Eden Prime? I mean it can't be a coincidence that you're here the same time as the Geth." Alenko spoke up, he'd been quiet for the majority of the conversation, as had Ashley but even from the few things he said, Cain could tell that Alenko immediately didn't take a shining to him. But that didn't matter, they only had to get along for a little while longer.

"Ah, that. Well, I can tell you just about as much as you can tell me. Operation Lopez, I'm on an important search and retrieve mission of some stolen property. I'm not actually on contract, the property in question belongs to me and Shane." Cain smiled as he tilted his head to the side, obviously remembering either something great or something funny about this 'Operation Lopez'.

"Yes but what IS Operation Lopez?" Shepard asked, visibly annoyed at the vague answers Cain was giving. He had every right not to answer her but he was, he had every right not to align himself with her and her squad mates, but she had. This was probably the most co-operation she would get from him.

"That is the information that I cannot divulge. Just like you and your 'artefact'." Cain laughed, using his fingers to exaggerate the clauses around the word. He knew exactly why they were here, but as long as he pretended that he didn't, he wouldn't be backed into a corner by his moral code and forced to give away vital mission information about Operation Lopez.

"I give up. Come with us if you're going to help, but don't whine if your precious Operation Lopez is not here because we didn't know what to look for when the Geth were ransacking the place." Shepard challenged him, hoping that this would prove to be a good enough point for Cain to see sense and tell her his real reason for being there.

"She has a point." Shane's voice came up on everyone's comm links, Alenko, Shepard and Ashley all jumped and looked around, weapons at the ready to gun down this unseen threat before they all saw the look of amusement on Cain's face.

"I should probably explain that. Sorry about the sudden intrusion on you already open channel, but since we seem to be working together, you would benefit from my help, if you'd prefer to just be with the brawn then you just need to say." Shane laughed as he carried on doing whatever it was he was doing.

"Where is he? Because that doesn't sound like a short range communications system and we found no other ships around the planet." Shepard asked, suddenly far more curious about that than anything in her immediate vicinity. Cain shook his head but ended up allowing her the information anyway.

"The Citadel. That's where our office is, and also our lab, and our weapons testing facility. Oh and our store front. I think that's about it, did I miss anything Shane?" Cain was enjoying the looks on their faces when he revealed that they had some major property on the Citadel. "Nope" Was all the reply he gained form Shane who was busy working away on some gun mods back on the Citadel. Cain really wished he would stop doing those while listening to 'Yyz'.

"IF question time is over, we really should get going, we've been standing in this exact spot for about ten minutes now." Cain was not amused by their time management, but then again every confrontation be it enemy or ally, had to be dealt with carefully.

"I agree with the walking arsenal, we should keep going if we're going to find what you came here for Shepard." Ashley joined in and Shepard nodded in agreement. Soon they were back on their way to finding the docking station. That was where Cain needed to be and it was his understanding that the others needed to be a little further than that. They encountered minimal resistance between their meeting place and the train docks. It was an uncomfortable scene when they got there however. Nihlus was standing in the courtyard with another Turian.

"Who's that?" Ashley asked, pointing to him. They were on a hill overlooking the whole scene, hidden by shade.

"More importantly, WHAT is that?" Cain asked as he knelt down and fiddled with his omni-tool before it was recording the scene and sending the feed straight to Shane for analysing.

"What are you two doing? That's Saren Arterius, he's a spectre just like Nihlus. If they're both here though… Why would the council send Saren then us?" Shepard asked herself before a gunshot rang through the air and Nihlus was dead before he hit the ground. Saren said a few words to his former comrade before getting on the train and leaving to go much further up the track.

"Holy shit." Cain said very slowly. "Shane, destroy everything I've just sent you. The only account of what just happened MUST stay on my omni-tool." Cain said as slow as his previous curse. Alenko and Ashley were in shock at what they'd just seen. Had Saren just betrayed the trust of the council. None of the Geth were attacking him.

"You have to give me that footage." Shepard demanded as she stood to meet what she was certain would turn out to be a huge and drawn out confrontation between the two. She didn't know his breaking point for hollow nagging but she promised herself that she would get that evidence.

"And why is that? I've only got the footage with my complete scan on it, and there's no way in hell that I'm going to hand it over to the Alliance." Cain said, standing his ground against the impressively intimidating red head. She really did have a passion for it all. This was her in her element. Cain didn't know why but he liked her when she was like this.

"What's so bad that it can't be used as evidence against a ROGUE SPECTRE!?" She shouted at him, furious. Neither of the two had noticed but Alenko had silently training his gun on Cain and was ready to put him down at the slightest moment of violence.

"Operation Lopez. If the desire for you to present this to the council is that dire then I will accompany you and hand it to them myself, but I'm not giving away Lopez to anyone. Do we have a deal Shepard?" Cain's stare was harder than steel, but Shepard saw no other way around it and eventually nodded in agreement.

"Move out, maybe we can still catch up to him." Shepard's words had never been so wrong. Maybe they would have had a decent chance without the five squads of Geth and four bombs between them and the final target.

"Oh shit. Is that what I think it is?" Ashley asked, slack jawed at the large cylindrical object with a bright red L.E.D timer on the top counting down to boom town. 'What else could it be?' Cain thought but decided not to voice his opinion at this moment as it wouldn't help the situation at all.

"Well it's certainly not an orbital ordinance drop." Cain laughed as he just stood and watched as Shepard and Alenko tried to figure out how to defuse the bomb.

"Are you sure? Did you ever have any sort of bomb diffusal in N7?" Alenko asked. Shepard gave him a dirty look before sighing deeply and shaking her head. She hadn't, great we've got no tech experts and a bomb set to go off in two and a half minutes. Cain sighed and waved his omni-tool at the bomb and waited for a reply.

"Er, what are you?" Shepard asked but Cain hushed her by putting his finger very close to her lips and answering his comm response. "The blue wire." Shane said with a yawn and blatant disinterred in their situation. Shepard realised that Cain can't have been entirely truthful, as Shane would have been much more worried if this was the first time he'd been in such a situation. She'd definitely grill him about it later.

"Oh and Cain?"

"Yes Shane?"

"Something I should probably have mentioned earlier. There's three more bombs on this train line, all similar construction and all defused by the blue wire. Get cracking you haven't got much time." Shane said before hanging up with the same amount of disinterest for this mission as before. Three more bombs?

"Well shit." Cain cursed as he bolted off, unleashing a flurry of dual wield predator rounds that had been enhanced to freeze anything they hit. He brought down an awesome show of skill when he charged the oncoming Geth squads head on just to prevent the train-line from blowing sky-high.

After she had successfully defused the first bomb she shot up and followed Cain's pattern, ducking low into the cover of the train cart, "Follow his lead, cut the blue wire, I'll provide covering fire, go!" Shepard ordered and without further need both Alenko and Ashley had dashed up the train, seeking new cover to advance on the enemy. It wasn't that dire though as Cain was tearing through them at a ridiculous pace. This must have been what Shane meant when he spoke of Cain's skills. He was right, the man certainly did have skill, or at least he was extremely proficient with pistols, he might not be as good with a rifle. Shepard smirked at the thought of being better with the rifle than him as she aimed the Black Widow and shattered three frozen Geth with one single round.

Kaiden shouted something off in the distance as he diffused another one of the bombs, Ashley as well which left the last one that just so happened to be located at the very end of the train. Shepard looked up in confusion as she saw a flash of silver slice through one off the Geth's torso, causing it to fall to the ground, void of any actions. The man carrying the blade then grabbed the next Geth's rifle and aimed it at the Prime who was quickly advancing on his position. He pulled down on the trigger sending a flurry of Geth rifle blasts into the Prime's shield before he finished the last Geth of by jamming the knife through its visor then leaning back and throwing it directly into the Prime's power core located at the lower back, besides the hip. All of the Geth were downed and Cain was advancing on that last bomb, picking up his knife as he past the downed Geth leader.

"Once the last bomb was diffused they heard an earthquake sized rumble and they all struggled to find balance, even Ashley who was very dextrous in combat. The ship in the distance left the planet with unrivalled speed. It looked to be multiple times the size of the Alliance dreadnoughts that they had back in human controlled space. The Alliance wasn't officially allowed a class one destroyer in Citadel space unless there was a crisis large enough for the uniting of races in the defence of the Citadel. Which considering the size and speed of what Shepard assumed was Saren's warship, would probably be happening soon, assuming that the Citadel was Saren's target.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Kaiden cursed himself as he squinted to make sure that he really was seeing what he thought he was. Shepard was caught out by Ashley making some noises in awe at a large glowing pylon just standing in front of them, how hadn't she noticed that before? That must be the Prothean beacon she was here for. Shepard pulled Ashley back quickly, it was like she was under control but once she did so, she found herself being lifted up into the air, unable to see anything but a blinding whit light and flashing images. She heard shouts of her fellow squad mates and felt something big and heavy hit her side on before another scream of agony pierced her ears before she fell under the dark grip of unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Shepard began to rise into the air after she'd pulled Ashley away from whatever the hell that beacon was. Cain knew that something had to be done fast, floating in front of glowing pylons couldn't be good for one's health. He ran and tackled Shepard out of the air but something had happened. Whatever was happening to her he was getting the after effect of, with the small exception that for him, it was extremely painful. He screamed out loud at the burning sensation inside his head and at that point Shepard had fallen unconscious. He struggled to remain awake himself.

"Cain! Do you read me? CAIN!" Shane shouted over their comms. He'd heard his partner's shouts but he didn't have much time before he too fell down from that. He had to act quickly, there was no way that he'd be able to take the Commander to safety in his current state, the best he could do would be to make sure her squad took care of her.

"Mister Alenko. I do not know your military rank and for that I apologize but we need to get Commander Shepard to a medical facility asap. Could you carry her?" Cain asked, struggling to even turn his head towards him. Alenko nodded and quickly came over and easily swooped Shepard up and into his arms. Ashley was surprised to see how easily he'd found carrying her, but now Ashley had to make a quick call. Cain wouldn't last long in his state with the remaining Geth squads all converging on their position, and he had helped them disable four bombs and locate the beacon. She made the call and came over and put one of his arms over her shoulders and helped him over to where Joker was coming in for a hot extraction.

The darkness soon came for Cain as well but he easily embraced the rest that he thought he'd deserved after that excruciating mind burning experience. He could hear various different noises as he faded in and out of reality, never being able to open his eyes but to hear the surroundings. He didn't want to try and open them anyway out of fear that the images that were violently burned into his mind would also be burned into his vision.

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When Cain woke up he wasn't surprised to see that there were two armed guards either side of the door ahead of him. He was sitting at a large gun metal finished table. Or more that he was lying across it. He'd just woken up. This seemed like a cruel place to wake unless he was being tortured. The guards didn't look Geth. No, they're about as human as it good. Where was he? Just then a tallish man in a blue uniform walked through the sliding doors.

"Good morning, mister?" The man asked, obviously awaiting him to give a name. Should he? He was honest with Commander Shepard, or at least as far as the first name goes. Ah, Shepard, that probably meant that he was on-board her ship. What was it called? SSV Normandy right? That's it. Then that must mean that this is the ship's captain, though he didn't know who he was. Cain quickly felt his ear and to no surprise his connection to Shane was gone, along with all of his gear. Apart from a knife in the side of his boot. A small curved silver blade that was sharper than a razor.

"Cain." He said groggily. He bet Shepard didn't wake up like this. He slowly reached for his boot. He had no intention of using it, just placing it on the table to show that they'd missed a spot when he was searched. The two guards instantly raised their guns, prompting Cain to raise his hands. He did and as surprised by this. The captain raised his hand and the guns went down. Cain pulled the knife from his boot and placed it at the edge of the table away from him. "You missed this one, Captain?" Cain awaited the same response that Captain had.

"Captain Anderson of the SSV Normandy. Alliance navy." Anderson sounded just as proud as Shepard. That reminded him.

"Where's Shepard?" He asked, rubbing his eyes and sighing deeply. He still had a headache but that would eventually pass, the images in his head he got the feeling would stay for quite a while. They were still as clear as day even if he didn't understand them in the slightest.

"She's safe. Recovering. You're on board the Normandy. Usually given the situational reports I've read you would be taken into custody for disobeying an Alliance officers command but I've been reassured by gunner chief Williams that you had honest intention to deliver some sensitive material that would act as evidence against a certain rogue spectre. Is chief Williams correct in her statement?"

"She is. There are other things on the recording which I do not permit anyone but the council and Shepard to see." Cain said quickly and looked Anderson in the eyes. If he'd taken his things he most probably saw the recording.

"Well then, it's a good thing that everything you had on you was sent into lockup. We're on our way to the Citadel as we speak. You are free to roam around, just beware that you will be under constant surveillance. Lieutenant Commander Alenko will be on hand shortly to take you to where you need to be. If you have any other questions then he's the one you need to ask." Captain Anderson stated as he left the room. Cain began to spin the knife around his fingers playfully as he contemplated his situation. First things first, he needed to get his omni-tool and ear piece back so that he could update Shane. Then he would go and find Commander Shepard.

There was another swoosh of the door and in came Alenko. He looked less annoyed than he did the first time. "We're running a background check on you as we speak, just so that you know. Are you ready to take a look around?" He asked him. Why not?

"OK, I would first like to go an retrieve my possessions. I do not mind going without weapons but I need my omni-tool and my comm link back to Shane. Then I would like to see Shepard." Cain's words shocked Kaiden. He firstly saved Shepard from that pylon and now he wanted to see her. Kaiden didn't know what angle Cain had in all of this but he saw little reason wrong with it, so e agreed and they were on their way to the elevator that would then take them to the cargo bay.

When they got to the cargo hold, Cain was immediately in awe at their high mobility tank they had just sitting in the docking station. "What. Is. That?" He asked with a certain degree of hidden excitement. He wanted one. It looked so cool. Maybe he could convince Shane that they needed to expand Operation Lopez to ground vehicles.

"That? It's our Mako. Pretty much every frigate carries one. If it's not being used for combat purposes, an exploration class frigate like the Normandy can still make use of it in extreme terrains. It's an impressive vehicle." Kaiden smiled as he remembered Shepard's first attempt at driving the Mako.

"OK, so where's my stuff being held?" Cain asked, slightly impatiently now that he was no longer gawking at the Normandy's tank. Kaiden let the way over to a set of lockers. It was a row of ten full body lockers that could each house a suit of armour and numerous weapons. On the fourth locker was a sticker that read 'Cain - ?'. Why would they put his name on a locker? He wasn't affiliated with the Alliance, they wouldn't recruit him, so why would he suddenly have a locker amongst what Cain assumed was Shepard's ground team?

Kaiden unlocked the locker by twisting the key input and pushing downwards. The locker opened to reveal a few pieces of metal that were acting a armour plating. He had two pistols in the head gear section and a rifle that when in use extended to its full operational size. He put the omni-tool onto his forearm and returned his earpiece to its place. Kaiden watched the man very carefully. He had an expertly woven web of lies surrounding him. Was anything he'd told them on Eden Prime true? He didn't think that it was top priority at this point though as he saved Shepard, surely that meant that he had no intention of opposing himself to the Alliance.

"Shane? Do you read?" He asked once and very calmly. "He's probably asleep." Cain shrugged as he strapped the few remaining pieces of armour to his body. It wasn't a full combat suit, but of what Kaiden had seen of Cain in action he obviously preferred a more nimble approach to combat. To not get hit is better than to get hit and have minimal damage. A conflict of interest for as long as combat armour has existed.

"We can go up to the medical bay now if you want." Kaiden offered as he walked back over to the elevator that had brought them down here. The med bay? This ship had a med back and he'd woken up in an interrogation room. But Shepard was there so it made sense to go and see her.

"I have nothing else to do until we get to the Citadel so we may as well. Is she up yet?" Cain wasn't sure how he felt about this crew and their mission, it didn't seem too dire, though. They were sent to recover a Prothean beacon and now they're going to convict a rogue spectre. It was all down to whether or not they would chose to further pursue this rogue spectre. Saren was his name. And he'd just stolen Operation Lopez. Cain would get it back, even if he had to go to every planet in the traverse. Lopez was his and nothing would stop him from reclaiming it.

When Cain and Kaiden got to the medical bay the doctor instantly shunned him. "You! You're the reason that my work was so extensive on the commander." She glared at him like he was no better than the Geth.

"Doctor Chakwas, please be reasonable, she got off with one broken rib but she's alive. That's because this man stepped it." Kaiden was actually sticking up for him. Both Cain and the doctor looked at Kaiden like he was insane..

"He's right you know." Shepard spoke through her sleepy state, her eyes weren't open but she was finally awake. The doctor walked over, immediately forgetting about Cain. Shepard shivered against the cold stethoscope Chakwas applied, checking that she had a regular heartbeat.

"I'm fine doctor, really there's no need to worry about me." Shepard waved her hand away, signalling that she'd gotten some of her strength back. Cain wondered if she had a headache as well.

"Shepard. How are you doing?" Kaiden asked. His voice softened whenever he was around her. Cain got the feeling that he had something for Shepard, sadly for Alenko he was a man that followed the rules and the many regulations that forebode relationships between ranks was keeping him well away from his commanding officer.

"Better. Hell of a headache though." She said as she rubbed her temples. Sitting up in the bed. It didn't look very comfy but Cain would still have prepared it to a cold steel table.

"Did you have a vision? I'm sure that when I tackled you out of the air, I got the aftermath of whatever it was that you were doing. It burned. It REALLY hurt." Cain said indifferently. He could still vividly remember what it was like, the memory of the pain had faded though.

"Quite. Interrupting a transfer like that would have turned your body into a human conduit. We have nothing on record of anything like this ever happening so I really could not give you anything to help with it. You're welcome to try taking aspirin though." Chakwas gave a fake smile at the end. She enjoyed the thought of Cain in pain but she had to admit that this outcome was better than anything she could have imagined if he didn't intervene and Shepard had gotten the entire vision burned into her mind.

"I had a vision. It was all jumbled and made no sense. It's so far useless unless you saw something different." Shepard said as she looked up at Cain. She hadn't noticed it before, probably because it was in the middle of a battle but Cain was actually rather good looking. When stood next to Kaiden it was like eye candy. She couldn't afford the luxury of such thoughts right now though, she had things to do. Captain Anderson would want a full report from her as soon as possible.

"Well, as long as you're OK my effort wasn't in vain." Cain said calmly before saying nothing else and walking out of the medical bay. Just outside of the doors a guard was waiting to tail him until they got to the Citadel. He didn't mind though as he had no intention of being troublesome. He went over to the mess hall and tried to contact Shane again to update him on the situation.

"Is he wandering around un-checked?" Shepard asked. Her military discipline kicking in. She still didn't quite trust him but that was something that she didn't need to work on as she doubted she'd see him again once the evidence would be presented to the council.

"No, we have a guard on him. I'm curious as to what makes you think he'll just show up at the council meeting. I mean he has THE only accountable evidence against Saren, we don't know for sure if he's even our ally. This whole Operation Lopez thing makes is seem too convenient. For him." Kaiden said calmly. He looked out of the med bay windows to see Cain sitting down in the corner of the mess hall with his finger in his ear and his omni-tool active.

"He could be actively destroying the evidence as we speak. Fortunately Captain Anderson has put trackers on certain parts of his omni-tool. If he tries to destroy the recording we'll know about it." Kaiden took his eyes off of the Normandy's guest and back to Shepard. If only he could tell her how he felt. If only there wasn't a thousand regulations stopping him.

"I don't know how to explain it Kaiden but I think he's going to do the right thing and I don't know about you but I really want to know what Operation Lopez is." Shepard grinned. Kaiden was ultimately right though, this temporary alliance could either be good or bad. Cain could easily be an agent of a rogue spectre. A spectre rogue or not had seemingly endless resources until proven rogue, but if Kaiden was right and his omni-tool was being monitored then they should face no problems at least until they got to the citadel.

"I hate to interrupt your conversation of who's the traitor but if I may finish my analysis. You're going to be fine, that man may have saved your life but he gave you a broken rib in the process. IT's not severe and it's mostly out of the way of your combat armour configuration so you should feel no pain from that. You should however drink lots of fluids and avoid being tackled for another week." Doctor Chakwas said and upon her bow she went back over to her desk to work.

"Thanks doc. I'm going to go and check on our guest. And Kaiden?" Shepard asked as she turned around. He looked surprised when she stopped to ask him something.

"Thank you for taking care of me." She smiled before leaving without waiting to hear any response that Kaiden might give. It was good of him to do it but Shepard knew he had his own reasons aside from his military rank. Poor Kaiden, he must realise that she would never be able to be with him? She couldn't think about that right now.

"Hey." She said simply when she walked over. She waved her hand at the guard, "Take a break Henderson." And on her words the guard was at ease and moving to the other side of the mess hall where the chef was fiddling with something in a sink. Behind him was a cooler of sorts with stacked trays all with plastic wrapping over them. Rationed food even on board an exploration ship, Cain liked that idea, it was smart.

"Feeling better Commander?" Cain asked, finally looking up from his omni-tool. Shepard could see clearly what was running through it, though she understood little about it. It looked like schematics of some sort, maybe a heavily armoured vehicle.

"Much. If you don't mind me asking, what is that?" She asked, pointing towards the mapped out design that was flickering through various stages on his omni-tool. It went from a design view up to a calculations section and back down to a measurements page. Cain said nothing before dialling in a few buttons then turning his hand to show her.

"That. It's your Mako after Shane and I have applied our skillset to it." Cain smiled. So while Shepard had been recovering, Cain had been constructing theoretical upgrades to the Mako. She had to admit it looked pretty impressive. New armour plating, a much needed firepower upgrade. This had to cost a lot though.

"How much would that take though? It doesn't seem like a very easy transformation." Shepard frowned. It would have been a great addition, it wasn't her call to make however. Anderson might agree to it if Shepard presented the requisition but it was unlikely.

"My services are usually free. If you have something that I can create such a plan for then it's free due to the rarity of it. Shane will probably try to charge you though." Cain smirked before he went back to altering some of the final details before putting the omni-tool away.

"Cain, I wanted to thank you. Chakwas said that if you hadn't of pulled me down that I could have died from the intensity of the beacon." She was… Thanking him? He wasn't sure what to say. He'd never really had any instances where he'd been thanked for what he'd done.

"I.. You're welcome, just don't make this a regular thing. You won't have me to look after you once we present the evidence to the council." Cain smirked, quickly recovering from his embarrassment at being thanked. Just then Ashley came over with a big folder full of loose papers.

"What's this?" Shepard asked as she read the front of the folder. 'Cain Holland', she finally knew his surname. "Cain Holland hey?" She grinned evilly as she looked up at him out of the corner of her eye. She'd have a lot of fun with this in the few hours they had left before reaching the Citadel.

"Captain Anderson has already reviewed it and as such you are no longer under surveillance and constant guard. I don't know what's in that folder but it's got to be pretty damn impressive for the captain to give such an order." Ashely said as she put on her impressed face and smiled at Cain before leaving.

When Ashley had disappeared Cain spoke up again, "What's wrong with my last name?" He looked wounded. Shepard could see that it was a faked offense and he was just trying to be funny. Nothing beats Shepard she though and mentally laughed at herself.

"Nothing, it's just I never expected it to be Holland is all. There's a lot of black ink in your file Cain. It would be easier if you just told me everything of relevance instead of making me whine at my superiors for higher access." Shepard pursed her lips the same way he had when they first met and tried to give her puppy dog eyes. It didn't work. At all.

"I'm sorry Commander. I simply do not know you well enough for that. I'm sure that you'll find it out one way or another." Cain smiled, it wasn't one of any particular nature, it was just a hollow smile signalling that the conversation ended.. She had to go and give her report to Anderson now anyway so with that she stood and left, leaving Cain to tinker with his Mako plans.

* * *

The Council was just up the stairs. Ambassador Udina had already started trying to present their case. Shepard and Cain walked up the stairs led by Anderson and backed by Alenko and Williams. Without the evidence they didn't stand a chance. If Saren was as good as they'd heard then the council may still be blind to the evidence presented to them.

"Councillors I beg you. We have video evidence of Saren committing the act." Udina stated and just as he did so they all went silent. If there was video evidence, could it be undeniable? Cain bowed deeply at the council. The Asari councillor seemed extremely unhappy to see him.

"Holland. What exactly is your involvement in all of this?" She asked with extreme venom in her voice. The other council members were well aware of the conflict between these two people but in the presence of this hearing they ignored it as best they could.

"A reclamation mission on Eden Prime. It was going smoothly until I was attacked by hordes of Geth. That was when Commander Shepard.. Saved.. Me." Cain obviously found it difficult to have admitted that. So he was a man of intense pride. That made it all the funnier to Shepard. She would have to ask for the security footage and track the audio of Cain admitting that.

The Asari councillor looked displeased at his valid reason. They weren't allowed to probe his reasons any further. "This video evidence. May we see it?" The Turian councillor asked. On his request Cain waved his omni-tool and the video started playing from the point he began to record. There was an active scan happening on the recording, revealing a large metal humanoid object in a crate marked 'Lopez' on the train that Saren would board after shooting Nihlus.

After the clip had ended there was a hushed discussion between the council members before the came back with a response. "We find the evidence you present compelling but also viable to fabrication. We have heard of rumours of Saren's involvement with Geth before. This is nothing new to us, we have however found recently that someone in the market district has evidence that would prove the video you have shown us is real and un-tampered with. Go and find this new evidence and we will revoke Saren's spectre status and allow you to proceed with your campaign against him." The Salarian councillor answered looking very displeased that their best spectre had evidence that painted him a traitor to the Citadel.

Campaign? What campaign? Cain thought. He better not get involved with this but at the same time if Shepard was to be tracking down Saren he could just request to go with her. It was obvious to them all now about his intentions of finding Saren.

"One last thing Holland. We see that there was a scan in the video evidence. What was it that was uncovered?" The Asari smiled wickedly. She knew that this was something he wanted to remain a secret and now if he refused to answer he would look suspicious and the evidence would become void. Cain wouldn't do that when coming this far.

"Operation Lopez. My stolen property." Cain answered before leaving quickly. He was furious that she'd pulled that over him. He should have realised that it was coming though, considering the history between them. The meeting was adjourned.

"Cain hold on." Shepard said as she quickly caught up to the man who had just been tricked into revealing his intentions. Not that he had anything to hide, especially from Shepard. "I know that Saren has what you want, and you've more than proven yourself to me through Eden Prime and reading your file. I'm offering you a place on my team to take Saren down. It will get you close enough to recover your objective. What do you say?" Sheaprd asked, unsure as to whether Cain was interested in an alliance with her. It wasn't a choice that Cain saw as such, he had to reclaim Operation Lopez no matter the means, and he'd prefer to have been with a crew as capable as Shepard's.

"I say off to the markets." Cain smirked as he shook her hand and the team bar Anderson went off in search of that evidence that would complete their case against Saren and show his treason.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Shepard's team, including Holland who was the newest member to be included in the search for Saren, made their way back through the council's meeting structure only to be stopped by a Turian that they had briefly spoken to on the way to the appeal. Cain remembered his name briefly, Vakarian, he'd met him a couple of times when in passing on the Citadel.

"I'm sorry but I overheard your plead to the council, if it's true that you're going after Saren then I'd be more than willing to offer my help." He said politely. Ashley was glazed over by his voice but had second feelings about the alien. Could he be trusted? She wouldn't want him by her back in a combat situation, she knew that much.

"We're going to need some outside help on this. And you've been hunting Saren for some time now is that right?" Shepard answered, immediately interested in what this Turian could offer her team. He knew how Saren liked to work and was probably the closest one to bring Saren down single handily, so it made sense that he would be a great asset to her campaign.

"That's right. I've been tracking him for some time now. I know where he's mostly likely to strike out next, or I have in the past. His current objective is unknown to me. Though I suspect that you're aware. If you decide you want my help then I'll be able to fully understand his motives and objectives." He said. Cain noticed that his voice was very slow and yet incredibly motivating, like this man would be calm even with his arms blown off.

"You're in. Report to the Normandy when you're ready. For now we've got to track someone down. Open to suggestions here people." Shepard said as she turned to face everyone one of her new crew. These were the people that she intended on taking with her on missions. Garrus was a fellow sniper so that provided an excellent overwatch factor to nearly any battle. Kaiden was a biotic, she wasn't sure about Cain, she'd make sure to ask him sometime, but as far as she knew both he and Williams were able to operate at short to medium range, whereas Kaiden was the most flexible soldier on the team with efficiency from short through to long range.

"Yeah. I need to go down to the presidium to pick up some gear of mine. I don't really need anyone with me, but I would suggest that Kaiden comes as he's the most experienced with the Normandy aside from yourself. If he sees anything that might be of use to us then we can bring it back. After that we meet up with you and see where you're at with getting that evidence." Cain said. Shepard saw the logic in this and nodded giving the order.

Cain led Kaiden to a different elevator to the one they'd come up in so that they would go down to the labs. Kaiden had no problem going with him, it in fact gave him a chance to ask a few questions of his own, without the risk of it getting back to Shepard.

Shepard went with Ashley and Garrus right down to the markets which held Chora's den on the other side, a club that was mostly filled with service men and women that were off duty. It was a filthy, dingy little club but it did have some appeal to Shepard, it was probably the ninety percent of Alliance soldiers drinking.

There was a Krogan standoff over in the corner. "You tell Fist to come out here or I WILL go in after him. It will happen sooner or later!" An angry red Krogan shouted as he abruptly stormed off towards to bar to order the strongest think there. Human bars didn't keep Ryncol and he'd probably whine about that as well.

"I'm here to see Fist." Shepard said as she walked up to the Krogan door man. He was wearing a helmet, so Shepard couldn't see the reaction beneath. But she could have guessed what it was when she was declined entry.

"No you aren't. If you were, you'd been on the list." The doorman replied. He wasn't holding any pads and didn't have an omni-tool on him. What list? Unless the list compiled exactly zero names, that would have made much more sense.

"Oh right, my bad. I'm on the list that actually has names. Now let me in." Shepard tried to stay calm but she suddenly got a burning urge to do something drastic, she got the feeling that whatever was about to happen she just needed to let happen, and upon letting her instincts kick in she reached for her rifle and as it expanded she swung it by the heavy end right into the Krogan's knee causing him to topple before she slammed her boot down on his exposed neck, effectively putting him out of action but not killing him.

"You know, if you weren't ordered by the council to find this evidence, I'd have had to take you in for that." Garrus muttered but no one heard him because Ashley soon joined the shocked at Shepard club.

"Holy shit Commander!" Ashley said in awe at the rashness her commanding officer had just displayed. The other Krogan came over straight away, downing his drink and smiling. Or Shepard thought he was smiling, she couldn't actually tell because his face had seen its fair share of battle.

"Finally! Someone who knows how to get things done! I warn you though, if you're after Fist, I'm the one who's going to kill him." The Krogan grinned, actually grinned this time, Shepard could see that he was in the mercenary business more for fun than monetary gain.

"I just want to talk to him, I assume that if he has a Krogan body guard then he's bound to know what I want." Shepard reasoned. The Krogan agreed to let Shepard have her moment but came in with them anyway, at the ready to do the deed.

Meanwhile in the presidiums, Cain walked up to a sturdy looking door and fiddled with a keypad, which made him look like he was attempting to break into it. "Don't worry; it just gets stuck every now and then." He assured Kaiden who was at that point certain that they were breaking the law. Cain gave a grunt of triumph as the key guard slid up and he entered the code which caused the door to slide open revealing a dark lit hallway resembling the presidium offices.

Kaiden decided to open us conversation, "So you and the commander seem to be getting along well." He dived right into the deep end, what was he doing? He was certain that Cain would pick up on it. Which he did. "You sound a little hurt. No one starts a conversation like that Lieutenant Commander. I hope it's just me being very perceptive to your notions and behaviours, because if it isn't, then people will soon find out about your affection for the Commander." Cain responded as he switched on the lights which showed that they were standing in a small computer room.

On the wall to their right was a board with pins lined in it, off of which different sets of keys hung, all of them electronic and labelled. Cain picked up one which was labelled 'Armory' and began walking down the corridor. Kaiden was seemingly ignoring Cain's comment until he spoke his response.

"She has no time for me. She's too dedicated to the mission. Besides, she might not even find time for someone like me outside of the Alliance anyway." Cain stopped and just looked at him. That was one of the saddest things he'd ever heard. And still he wasn't sure how to respond, so he decided it was best not to. They came to a door that was labelled 'Armory' just like the key that Cain picked up. Once he swiped it through the room was a completely different story to that of the hallway. It was all gunmetal and highly polished steel. Everything was in order. Plenty of lockers and crates were laid out in a uniformed fashion.

"I'll be honest with you Kaiden. I've known Shepard for just under twenty four hours. I really couldn't give you the right advice on this. BUT, what I can give you is some shiny new weapons. Have a look around and let me know if you see anything you like." Cain said as he swiped open a particular locker then gave Kaiden the key. Inside this locker was a completely different outfit to the one that he had been wearing.

"Thanks but I'm pretty satisfied with my current arsenal." Kaiden smiled but still gave in to the temptation to look around the storeroom. Cain picked up two different guns and placed them where he had been keeping his pistols prior to that. These two were slightly longer and had separate clips in different places. He'd decided to go with sub-machine guns instead of pistols. He also pulled out a white sniper rifle that looked to Kaiden like it was actively changing its shape. Cain noticed Kaiden's look of confusion. "I might as well try to hone my long ranged skills while I still can." He reasoned as he strapped in his guns and armour, making sure that everything was on comfortably.

The door opened revealing another man in comfortable looking clothes. Soft brown jeans and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Shoulder length hair that stayed back with ease. Eyes that were slightly magnified by a stylish frame of glasses. Hands in his pockets, he looked fairly surprised to see two people in his armory.

"Shane. You never answered my hails. Don't look so shocked." Cain said calmly. So this was the man that had contacted them over their comms. He didn't look like Kaiden expected him to. He assumed that if he was in the same business as Cain that he would be a little bit bigger. Obviously Shane wasn't a combatant when it came down to it.

"Are you going to be going to Arcadia anytime soon?" Shane asked. Arcadia? Kaiden had heard of that planet recently. It came up as a neighbouring planet when they did the scans on Eden Prime. Arcadia was deemed uninhabitable considering its short distance to a sun. What would he expect to find there?

"No. Since firing incendiary rounds at the Geth I've come to the conclusion that not even they would last long on Arcadia, not unless there was already some sort of structure that would shield them from the heat."

"Well then, what about Zion? That's the only other possibility. Unless you know something that I don't. I never got the full scan of the video you started streaming. I destroyed it as per your instruction." Shane's voice held distastes, he didn't like that Cain would do something as reckless. If he had evidence of a council spectre going rogue, then surely he should have a backup.

"It was on Eden Prime. And that bastard stole it. Saren stole Lopez, which is why I'm going with Commander Shepard to stop him. If he's brought down, I'll be able to safely reclaim what is rightfully ours." Cain's voice sounded like it would bring a tear to the eye of a Vorcha.

Shane looked serious for a moment before simply accepting this. "Hmm, OK, you want pizza? The delivery guy just came and gave me extra." Shane said it like nothing else was important. The question just hung in the air. Kaiden realised that these guys must have been after this Operation Lopez for some time because of how chilled out and calm they were at the fact that they'd come so close and lost it.

"Ooh yeah. Kaiden, you want some pizza?"

"What kind?" Kaiden asked as they all left the armoury in the act of sating their appetites. Shepard was having much more success. She had gotten her answer out of the man named Fist and then Wrex, the Krogan had ended Fist's life as per his contracted means. Garrus tried very hard to ignore it as he'd abandoned his ability to arrest and apprehend criminals the moment that he decided to join Shepard's cause in taking down Saren.

The group were now moving frantically through the back alleys of the markets in order to catch up to a Quarian who had the information on Saren's involvement with the Geth, this was it, all she needed for her case to be confirmed. She was so close. All she had to do was make sure that the Quarian survived.

She heard a scream then Ashley gave direction to where it came from and soon they had zeroed in on it. A Quarian who was incredibly fast and agile was running and dodging shots being fired from a team of assassins. They'd obviously realised who she was. Shepard's team took off running down an adjacent path, hoping to get to her before the assassins did.

"Shepard to Kaiden. Where are you!?" She shouted, not because she was angry, but because she was running and communication was the least of her worries right now. Kaiden response was muffled until he managed to speak clearer into his comm link.

"Ugh, hey Shepard we're just eating pizza. Why do you sound so angry?" Kaiden asked, as calm as ever. Cain brought up his omni-toll. "Because they are running, come on Kaiden, I know a shortcut that will bring us to where they're running." Cain said quickly as he wolfed down his current slice and got up to run out of the door before quickly turning around and coming back for another one before finally disappearing out of the door. Kaiden was just behind him and following quickly. For such a big guy Cain could really haul ass. Kaiden was now struggling slightly but he refused to let his military conditioning be beaten by this man who now that he thought about it could have been augmented as a child. He wouldn't hold it against himself if he fell behind.

Cain ran and ran and ran until he finally hit an open walkway that gave a long view of the market district. He jumped down and slid off one of the draped over roofs of a stall below that was selling knock off thermal clips. He gave one last boost of speed before quickly tackling a Quarian through another stall, effectively covering them from prying eyes. They had landed through a closed stall that had its roof covering it, though it was doing a bad job as it was now covering them on the floor. She let out a string of curses before she stopped when Cain tried to hush her.

"Sssh. Turn off your electronics or they'll hear us." He said as he loosed his grip on her, showing that he had no intention of harming her. He turned off his own electronics when he heard several footsteps surround them before running off again.

"Damn it, we've lost them. Cain do you read me? Cain? Come in?" Shepard tried but nothing worked for her. Cain smirked at the visualisation of what he could do at this point but decided that he didn't want to anger Shepard and have her kneecap him with her sniper rifle.

"Reading you loud and clear Shepard. I have the Quarian safely hidden in a high tech cloaking device." Cain twiddled all of his fingers when he said it, giving the image that he was casting a magic spell.

"I'm right here. Bosh'tet that hurt." The Quarian complained as she rubbed her ribs. Shepard gave Cain an odd look. "Yeah, I'm aware of how that feels." She said as she shot him another look that quickly turned into a smile that she was forced to hide when she saw Cain's apologetic face.

"Stop it Holland. Anyway, I'm Commander Shepard. I understand that you have something that would implicate the Turian spectre Saren as a traitor to the council?" Shepard spared no time with subtlety as she full on asked the question. In a busy market place no less.

"I do, but first. I am Tali Zorah Nar Rayya. And I wish to help you take down the man that just tried to have me killed." She spoke proudly and truly. It was Shepard's lucky day, she'd gained a lot of powerful allies all with different reasons for joining her team. Cain was on a mission of reclamation. Garrus was a man of justice who sought to bring Saren before the council. Wrex was a bloodthirsty Krogan who saw Shepard getting into many battles in the name of bringing this man to justice. Tali wanted revenge for Saren having ordered her death. Ashley was doing her duty under her commanding officer and Kaiden… Where's Kaiden?

"Ugh. Cain? Where's Kaiden?" She asked, suddenly looking around. Then as if on que Kaiden came slowly running into the area a pistol in his hand and completely out of breath.

"Right there." Cain responded very slowly and outstretched his finger, emphasizing the obviousness of the answer. "Shut up." Kaiden panted, really in need of a breather. Kaiden looked around at the new faces. A Krogan and a Quarian, that was new.

"What took you so long?" Cain laughed, he wasn't sure if there really was an answer, he could probably guess just by looking at the patches around his clothes, soot, it would all wash out easily so there was no reason that Kaiden should complain.

"Your so called shortcut. Who the hell calls that a shortcut!" Kaiden responded angrily. Shepard wasn't about to get in their way so long as this stayed a verbal debate, she was loving this.

"People who can actually make a shorter time to their destination. I guess the Lieutenant Commander wasn't as good as he thought he was." Cain was upping the stakes but Shepard wouldn't have any of it. She'd step in before this debate got any more heated.

"That's enough you two. Everyone to Udina's office. He's going to want to hear this himself.


End file.
